AU trains Somali police officers to secure elections

The African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) on Saturday kicked off training for Somali police officers to help ensure that the forthcoming elections are held peacefully.

AMISOM said in a statement issued in Mogadishu that the police officers from all regions of the country will be trained on the processes and ways of maintaining impartiality, independence, transparency, efficiency and professionalism during the electoral process

Deputy Superintendent, Alexander Kweku Obeng for the AMISOM Police Team Leader in Kismayo, emphasized the role the police plays in securing elections world over, noting that Jubbaland police is not an exception.

“Jubbaland is preparing for elections and as you are aware, the Police play a major role in election management in every country and the police in Jubbaland State of Somalia are not an exception,” Obeng said.

He said there is need for security officers to improve their skills and ability to effectively manage the forthcoming election process.

Obeng noted that the training was in response to a needs assessment study conducted earlier in the federal member states.

The first series of training sessions carried out this week in Kismayo and Baidoa is aimed at educating and preparing police forces for the forthcoming electoral process.

Among the subjects tackled were the importance of election security, voting systems and electoral justice. In Kismayo, 115 police officers from Jubbaland underwent the training while 104 were trained in Baidoa.

“They (police) will be trained on election security. We thank the United Nations, AMISOM and other partners who have supported us on this program, which will help the police, fulfill their duties,” Kheyre added.

Inspector Tom Naibei from AMISOM Police Training and Development Department said they are training the Somali Police Force on the critical issues of elections security.

“We have trained them on the skills they are supposed to have in terms of conducting searches, mainly body searches and vehicle searches during the election period,” he said.